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Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet;  stay on the safe path.  Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil. - Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT


Imagine taking your family to one of those old-timey circuses in the late 19th century. Money was hard to come by, and you had saved up for weeks to be able to take them to see the Ring Master introducing all the acrobatic and animal acts under the big top.  

You'd walk down the path toward the circus tent, kids excitedly in tow, and as you were making your way to your goal, walking along with the crowd pressing in around you, you'd hear from the sides of the path loud carnies yelling out their headlines, trying to entice you to stop and see what you could only see right there in their tent!  Cries promising the viewing of the bearded woman, or a boy born with two heads, or a man who could swallow a sword and still live would ring out over the excited giggles and shrieks of the children running beside their parents on the way to the big top. 

Those carnies would have one goal in mind - to distract you on your way to the big top, so that you could spend your money with them! 

Our enemy is just like that.  Sure, sometimes he'll throw some big things at us, and do all he can to detour us from our goals...but more often than not we aren't detoured - we're just distracted!

Family drama, work drama, church drama, financial drama - it's all there to try to catch your attention just long enough to keep you from focusing on God's will for your life. 

Please hear me, I'm not saying to completely ignore everything unless it's directly related to missions trips, or church camps.  What I am saying is that when these things come up (and they will), handle them as quickly as you can without leaving your path (your Christian lifestyle), and keep going! Don't be so distracted by the distraction that you find yourself completely off the safe path that leads to HIM.  Or even worse, you find yourself stalled out because in trying to handle the distraction off the safe path, you've allowed yourself to run out of fuel!

Fix your eyes ahead, friend.  I promise by keeping in motion toward HIM, the distractions will be easier to handle. 



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